"He once had a fleeting association with the Ku Klux Klan, what does that mean? I'll tell you what it means. He was a country boy from the hills and hollows from West Virginia. He was trying to get elected," former President Bill Clinton said of Sen. Robert Byrd.

Rialby, I am so steamed by all the fawning over Robert Byrd. Ugh. That man has had his name stamped on just about every bit of concrete in West Virginia. I've seen Neo-neocon's posts on him, but I'd like to see even more on his level of narcissism. This just burns me up. Even the NAACP was singing his praises. I don't know of any Republican who has ever had this level of racism--and wouldn't expect to, since the KKK was a Democrat organization. Why is there not an uproar over the adulation this man is getting? He should have been quietly laid to rest, and the world then try to forget him. Any West Virginians out there want to help enlighten me? I know WV people are mostly not in his category. Aren't you all a little upset about living in his fiefdom?

AL will completely derail the thread with a red herring that could cut down the mightiest tree in the forest...

MontyMonty wouldn't touch this one...

And don't forget Ritmo. Ritmo will make 7 posts of no less than 6500 words total explaining how Byrd's KKK tryst really wasn't a big deal and how Rand Paul's problems with the '64 CRA act are far far worse than Byrd's personal filibuster of the same act...

Oh, and then Jeremy will burst into the thread projecting his ball-sucking fantasies.

RH, do you pronounce sumac as SOO-mak or SHOE-mak? In Central Ohio, all I hear is Soo-mak, and people look at me funny when I say SHOE-mak, but that's how we pronounced it in Southern Ohio. The online dictionaries have both.

I've sprayed the pods gold, fed the leaves to a monarch caterpillar, marveled at the silkiness and compact packaging of the seed parachutes, and played a part in their unusual distribution system, but had no clue the blooms looked like this.

"Ugly" was my first response. A bit harsh, but IMO it's not a flower that looks as if it is going to produce the engineering feat that results. It's hard to believe such an odd looking system of tubes and openings is the front end of pod production.

I enjoyed the seeing the work of the artists Chip and Crack presented in the previous post. These kinds of links are what turn this blog into an electronic version of the large Life magazine that opened the world to me in the days before internet.

In Obama's recent speech on immigration, he referred to there being 11 million "undocumented workers" in this country. He repeated that figure three times. For years now, I've been hearing about our 12 million illegals, as if that number never grows even as they keep flooding across the border. However, according to the president, the number has actually dropped by a million, but he gave no explanation. What gives? Where are those million missing Mexicans? And who is doing the jobs that only they will do?

Trooper York said...Trooper York said...Don't forget hd. He even has a post on his blog dedicated to the memorary of this racist piece of shit."

Well trooper york, my blog only had room to post about one piece of shit. I immediately thought about you but you haven't died yet as far as I can tell although I'm sure there are any number of persons who might wish to join in on your current status...the piece of shit part not included.

HD: Byrd was fond of the N word right up until about 9 years ago when they began to keep the microphone from him. He was a recruiter for the KKK, not just a sometimes member. He was in the Klan for quite a while. He voted against every civil rights act.He was clearly a racist to his marrow.

He loaded ton of pork on West Virginia, a very poor state, but that should not exonerate his avid racism. Progressives would do well to steer clear of associating with Byrd, even in death.

The cigar was airbrushed from the main welcoming poster of a Churchill exhibit. The link is to the Daily Mail.

Ann: It's not quite current, and you might have seen it. I thought it something you might be interested in. However I have a question about gmail protocol:

Assuming "tips" like this are worthwhile, do you like to receive such stuff through gmail. or do you prefer to see such things in comments? I guess you would prefer the second in general, but there is not always an active "Cafe" thread.

"Assuming "tips" like this are worthwhile, do you like to receive such stuff through gmail. or do you prefer to see such things in comments? I guess you would prefer the second in general, but there is not always an active "Cafe" thread."